Had to put down my cat this morning. He's almost 18 years old and it finally got to the point we could tell he was miserable. Add in the fact that he was constantly missing the litter box and puking all over, and it was definitely time for him to go. This one was especially hard, as Saba was my first pet. I'd had pets growing up, but they were all picked by my parents. This dude was the first one that I had chosen.

We had to put our oldest cat down on Labor Day weekend. We've had to put 3 cats to sleep over the past six years. It just keeps getting more and more difficult. This recent one was my "stalker". 9/10 times when I would sit on the couch he would be on the couch within a few minutes butting his head against me to get on my lap and be petted. It almost got annoying. Now my lap is cold. Even after nearly a month I keep looking around when I am on the couch (like right now) looking for someone that isn't coming.

This is the first time in my entire life that I don't have a "social" cat in the house. We do still have another cat, but he spends 95% of his time hiding under our bed, and we only see him when he comes out late at night. It's really strange not having a cat sitting on my lap or chilling on the ottoman when I'm around the house.

Chewie is on the brink (14 yr old cockapoo - sweetest dog for kids ever) and our remaining cat Kenny (his older brother of about 18 was put down this summer) has destroyed two futon mattresses with urine.

It's harder when you don't have medical justification for it - but with Kenny he has crystals, is also on "mellow-pills" sometimes, and he has siezures. At 12, he's just not a good candidate for adoption. We've been teetering for months.

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"If it weren't for Philo T. Farnsworth, inventor of television, we'd still be eating frozen radio dinners." - Johnny Carson

Chewie is on the brink (14 yr old cockapoo - sweetest dog for kids ever) and our remaining cat Kenny (his older brother of about 18 was put down this summer) has destroyed two futon mattresses with urine.

It's harder when you don't have medical justification for it - but with Kenny he has crystals, is also on "mellow-pills" sometimes, and he has siezures. At 12, he's just not a good candidate for adoption. We've been teetering for months.

That's tough. It was an easy decision for our last kitty, as he literally couldn't move anymore. Saba was a much tougher call though. Saba vomited once or twice a day for the last year or so, but was otherwise healthy. He started pooping in random places about a month ago, and it became more and more frequent. Mrs. Gratch and I had already decided that once he stopped using the litter box, it would time for him to go. Too much of a health hazard with the Wonder Twins in the house. The decision was still tough, as he would have days where he was still very cuddly and active, but he had pretty much stopped grooming himself and we could tell it was hurting him every time he sat down (hips). We finally just had to bite the bullet today, but I still feel awful about it.

Yeah that was the right call. Tough to do it though. Had to do it to our 21 year old cat who had gone deaf, cried all the time when awake, and had a difficult time getting around. Knowing it was the right thing to do helps but takes awhile to get over it all the same.

This is the first time in my entire life that I don't have a "social" cat in the house. We do still have another cat, but he spends 95% of his time hiding under our bed, and we only see him when he comes out late at night. It's really strange not having a cat sitting on my lap or chilling on the ottoman when I'm around the house.

When our main cat (Webster) got eaten by a coyote, we promoted our emergency backup cat (Iggy). Iggy was an outdoor cat who only came in for a couple of hours a day. But once Webster was gone Iggy stepped right into the main cat role and became a complete loverboy. Maybe your emergency backup cat will blossom now that the niche is open.

Sorry to hear this. It's never fun. I actually have two smallish tattoes of our first dog and first cat. They were just awesome. Remembering the good times gets somewhat easier after some time. The hurt unfortunately never goes away. Good for everyone that we don't think this way when we adopt a new animal. Just try and be positive. I've probably cried more over lost animals then any other time in my life.

Sorry, Gratch. Handsome cat. Keep his memories close, and no doubt Saba appreciated the home and love your family provided.

I still think of my beloved Molly (age 16 in Sept. 2010) often, and keep a photo of her on my desk at work. I wasn't so torn up or cried so much in decades. It took a long time, but now I can think of Molly the cat and smile instead of feeling torn up again.

Everybody grieves differently. I've had friends adopt pets almost immediately after losing one, and others who never owned a pet again because they couldn't imagine dealing with the grief again. For myself, I attended a cat adoption event at a Petco a couple months after losing Molly, and my heart just wasn't in it. So just from my own limited experience, my advice is grieve and let one's heart heal before looking into a new pet.

By around May-June August 2011, I had room in my heart for a new cat, visited a couple shelters, and adopted JJ (age 5 then) because he was the first cat I'd met who seemed to "connect" with me, and aside from the occasional craziness bout - just this morning, he slashed an ankle as I walked by with one claw, like he was Garfield or something - JJ has been a wonderful pet.

Everybody grieves differently. I've had friends adopt pets almost immediately after losing one, and others who never owned a pet again because they couldn't imagine dealing with the grief again. For myself, I attended a cat adoption event at a Petco a couple months after losing Molly, and my heart just wasn't in it. So just from my own limited experience, my advice is grieve and let one's heart heal before looking into a new pet.

This is the first time in my entire life that I've only had one cat in the house. We've always had at least two, and sometimes three. While I certainly miss not having Saba around, I don't miss cleaning up cat puke or hearing him yowl at the top of his lungs at 3am.

I'm sure we'll get another one eventually, but I want to wait until the twins get a little older and can at least somewhat defend themselves from kitten claws.

Yesterday we made the decision of putting down our dog, Betsy. She was only 7 years old, but half a year ago due to unknown causes her kidneys started failing. She fought for 6 months, but this week she rapidly declined and wouldn't eat anything anymore.

Me and my girlfriend bought her the first year we started living together. She's been with us through 2 moves, was there when we bought our house, and when we had our 2 kids. Now that she's gone, I feel like some part of my youth has ended as well. When we bought her I had just got a job and a car, and now I have 2 sons, a house and a long commute...